Tiny People, Big Questions
by lone-star-woman
Summary: Thoughts while gazing upon an entire civilization in a jam jar with sad attempts at humor. Team fic. After my last fic, I thought I'd write something lighter.


**Author's Note****:** Based on the "List of known artefacts held by Henry John Parker" on the BBC website for the episode "A Day In The Death". The list can be found on LiveJournal in the community Ianto's Desktop.

**Disclaimer: **Torchwood isn't mine. If it was, Gwen would get a few lines per episode because it would be "The Captain Jack and Ianto Show". Sorry, Gwen.

"Fraggle Rock" belongs to Jim Henson and his family.

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After examining the other items once held by Henry John Parker, the team turns its attention to the jam jar with the faded remnants of its label that still stubbornly cling to the glass. The jam is long gone, and has since been replaced by gardening soil and pebbles on which extraterrestrial immigrants built their new village out of clay, toothpicks and bits of thread. The population count is unknown due to the fact that the people are less than half the size of fleas. In his diary, Henry Parker estimated that there are approximately 400 aliens living in a diverse community made up of people of all colors -- goldenrod, pink, pale green, yellow and lavender.

Tosh points a camera at the jar that magnifies the village on a monitor. The team gathers and watches the screen, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

-

Tosh is intrigued by the four clay towers so different from the rest of the block-shaped buildings. The towers remind her of the spires of a Gothic church -- intricately carved, tapered structures that point towards the heavens (or in this case a lid poked full of air holes). While they must be tall and imposing for the people in the jar, they seem so delicate to her. They would certainly crumble if she reached in the jar and touched them. Yet, they survived the ride back to the hub so Tosh knows they are well-designed and well-built. Was the architect who designed them an eccentric genius? What purpose do the towers have? Is it a church, a government building, or perhaps a monument? Whatever its purpose it must have taken the efforts of the entire village. Tosh hopes that they are all proud of what they have accomplished, and that it will last.

-

Jack considers the day to day lives of those living in the jar. With their entire civilization in such a small space, literally closed off from the rest of the world, their way of life must be a simple, communal existence. Are they happy? They do appear happy, and they probably are as they teach their children to share and to be content with what they have. Yet, he thinks about his own youth on the Boeshane Peninsula and about how confined he felt living on that tiny strip of land. Is there a teeny-tiny version of his adolescent self in that jar, looking at the world outside his glass confines, aching to get out?

-

Gwen moves from the monitor to the jam jar itself. As she squints at the tiny specks moving about the jar, she realizes just how big she must be to these aliens, sort of like a close-up of an actor's face blown up on an IMAX screen. She imagines that they must be confused by their new surroundings after being removed from the home of Henry Parker. She wants to reassure all of them that everything will be all right, that the five giants who have taken them into their hub are benevolent. Suddenly, she asks herself if it's rude to stare. Of course, someone in there is probably staring up at her… looking at the size of her pores. She really should have had that facial yesterday.

-

Ianto likes to ask himself the big questions (and working for Torchwood, it's hard not to); however, he's hard-wired to be pragmatic. Already he's thinking about the type of care these people will need. He wonders if they are comfortable in the jar or if perhaps he should invest in a terrarium where they will have room to spread out -- one with a little pond like he built for his pet turtle when he was seven. Will they need regular food supplies to supplement what he assumes are crops? Is he going to have to make it rain? That would make him like… God. Oh, the power! But the weight of the responsibility seems a bit daunting in its own way. He'll get used to it. Luckily, his new guests come with some notes from Mr. Parker, which he will read later tonight.

-

Perhaps tonight, when it's quiet and everyone has gotten bored with the jam jar and buggered off, Owen will get to work examining the members of their tiny new inhabitants. He'll make notes about their anatomy, perhaps put a few specimens…well, patients under a microscope and all that. At this moment, Owen's thoughts flit back to the theme song to a children's show:

_Dance your cares away _(clap, clap)

_Worry's for another day…_

It's been looping his head from the first moment that he's gotten a good look at the aliens. Perhaps it has something to do with their furry heads and fuzzy bodies that bounce contentedly around their minuscule village.

Or perhaps it had something to do with his undead condition. In these days since the death of Mr. Parker and his encounter with the suicidal woman, he needs to believe that this universe isn't as miserable as it seems because he doesn't know how long he's going to be stuck in it.

_Let the music play _(clap, clap)

_Down in Fraggle Rock_.

Jack, Tosh, Gwen, and Ianto turn to Owen with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Did you just clap?" Gwen asks.

Gulp. "Yeah," Owen answers. "Did I just sing that out loud?"

They all nod.

Owen scowls and says, "I suppose Ianto's the only one who's allowed to have a sense of whimsy 'round here."

He stuffs his hands in his pocket and tries to think deep thoughts while the rest of the team giggles and snickers.


End file.
